Sessions Worlds and Stuff

RR: Thank you.
II: *...once they're alone...* I can have us out and away in a moment.
RR: Hopefully that won't be necessary. *one hand has gone back to stroking the darkmatter's cloak comfortingly. She knows physical affection doesn't mean much to them, but it's still her go-to response*
II: *nods* It's a pity. I was enjoying being a carefree teenager. I've missed that.
RR: ...now is not the time, and I am not the person you should start suggesting your regrets to.
II: *winces* Right. Sorry.

[=T=] ... [~@~] [=@=] thankyou... [==@] this... willbeamoment... [=@=] sorry... [===] *they get up, reaching back out, closer to the contained wraith* [===] ... ... ...

*they both wait in silence, neither about to start a conversation again*

[===] ... [=T=] *they float away from the tube* [=T=] longago,whenthemembersofourkindwerebanishedhere,
theywerequicktotakeadvantageofthenaturalresources,andbuiltupagrandcivilizationindependantofthehumanshere...
butintime,thehumansroseupagainsttheminfearofwhattheycoulddo,
andtheybrokesomeveryimportantthings,drenchingtheentiresouthrenlandinemotionalfallout. alloftheorigionaldarkmatterbecamethe,'trueshadows',
andcleverhumanmageswereabletousethepowerofthemtofabricatemoreofthemagicalgems,
using'mana',orrather,the'magic'intheairthatwascreatedasasecondaryeffectofthefallout.
itwasaverydangerousprocessbackthen,andsometimesthemagessoulswouldbepulledinalongwiththemagicintheair... theseamagamateswould...
[=T=] ... ... ... *they take a moment to stop, collecting themselves*
theywouldbreakapart,leavingthehumansoulstorntopieces,carryingpartsofthedarkmatterwiththem. thosearethe'scholar'swraiths'... wraithsweremucheasiertocontrol,andwereabletobeconvertedintotheblueorbsandgemanvilslikewhatwesawupstairs... but,ifamagewasevertodiewhileboundtosuchanorb,thefragmentofthehumansoulinsidetheorbwoulddieasitisshatteredbytheevent,
andthefractionofthedarkmattersoulwouldclingtothesoulofthedieingmage,makingitbreakapartintomorewraiths... its...
[=T=] ... [==T] itsacruelcyclewherethedeathsofpastmagesserveonlytomakethenextgenerationstronger... we. we... [=T=] *they slump down again, feeling very drained*

RR: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
II: ...can I ask what you needed one for? Or, thought you needed one for?

[=T=] we... we. thereareonly6ofusleftinthiscloak... afterallourkindhaddone,oursoulshadsufferedand1darkmattersoulweighsonly3grams... ahealthy,fullyformedandcompletesoulhastobe21gramsorhigher. anyless,andthereisnotenoughmasstobeabletoremainstable. emotionaleventscanbuildupinplaces,untiltheypouracross,riskingaleakingout... you... youhadexperiencedtheeventoncebefore,whenourheartgaveoutforamoment,andourmindsstalled,
andweexplainedtoyouexactlyhowwecancreateobjectsusingcrystalizedfluidemotion... [=T=] ... we. wemightbeabletothinkmorerationalyaboutwhatwehavelearnedinsometime... butnow. wecryinside. wedieinside... [TTT] _{wedidthis... wewereapartofthis. wecastourselvesaside,andcontinuedwithoutthem.}

RR: You didn't do this. This wasn't you; you weren't here. You were off trying to do what was best for you. And the darkmatter who came here, they chose to do that. You didn't make them. And you didn't make those long-ago humans attack them.
II: ... *doesn't entirely understand, but doesn't press*

[TTT] ... [=T=] ... [=@=] ... [=T=] thankyou... [=@=] ... we... [==@] ... ... thankyou... *they start to get up* *it almost sounded for a moment like they were going to say something else, but they had stopped themselves*

II: ...so what do we do now? Skip town?
RR: She wants an explanation. I think we should give some.

[@==] perhaps... ... onlyonesherethatcouldpotentiallyworkherewouldbethe,'trueshadows',
anditsoundsasiftheyaretoviolent...
westillhaveconcernsforthisplace,butwedonotthinkweshouldgettoinvolved...
anymagewhoalreadyunderstoodthenatureofthewraithsisnotsomeonewewouldthinkbenevolent...
sheiswaitingupstairsforifwearetotalk... [=@=] ... [==@] ...

RR: I feel like someone should know that they have people trapped in there.
II: And I feel like this place suddenly got a lot less fun and a lot more dangerous.

[=@=] [@~=] werethemassivebloodboundgemslineduponthewallsnotproofenoughthatthisplacewasabletocastwidespreaddestruction? [@==] ... lets. [=@=] letsgotellher... ... *calming themselves, they take a moment to think, and realize that it wouldn't be good to go out into the crowded dinner* wewillneedtoreturntothecloakforwhenyougobackup... we,arenotgoingtophasethroughtotheretoavoidprovokingthem. [=@=] *they return to being a cloak for you* [===]
*if you were to go back up, then you would see the husband waiting before the door to the backroom, ready to head back in and handle maintenance, while the mage would be waiting back in her room*

II: Yeah and I also noticed the gem in her glove. And shiny accessories tend to be powerful magic. *shakes the chain of her hourglass for emphasis*
RR: *lets them settle over her shoulders again* I can do the talking, if you'd prefer. It's my idea anyway.

*a brief thought in response, thankyou...*
*shes waiting...*

RR: *heads back up to talk to her*
II: *keeps an eye on the husband as they pass, just in case*

*he says nothing, heading in to maintain the machine he's worked to build* *the casual sounds of the dinner can be heard till you've left the room, headed up*
*she is sitting on the floor, back where she was earlier, and once she sees you, she says,* "well, do you have an explanation? one that will tell me why you wanted to come here and possibly take the main source of our livelihood?"

RR: They call themselves darkmatter. And they're people, with nice ones and mean ones, like any kind of people. They're most comfortable in groups, and we were looking for more, to join my friend. They knew that some darkmatter had come to this world in the past. They didn't know that they had been attacked long ago, torn apart and merged with the souls of the human mages who tried to turn them into something they could use, and hooked up to machines. Not until now. And when we got here, I didn't know that I'd have to pretend that someone I care about was a slave, a thing to contain and order about, in order to walk freely in this town... We won't take your livelihood; I don't want any part of it. But I thought it was right for you to know just what it was built on. Maybe you already knew. We won't take up any more of your time.
II: ...

?~! "wait, could you please repeat that, but slower? I want to try and think back to our known history... see if it could possibly line up with..." *she's gotten up enough to take a small book off of a shelf, looking in it, ready to try and compare legend to your more articulate description*
[===] *the darkmatter get up during this time, and are about to repeat it for you, but realized that she asked for it to be repeated slowly* [=@=] ... [@==] ...

II: *well at least it doesn't seem like she's going to attack them*
RR: *speaking more slowly* ...a group of darkmatter separated from the main group and came to this world. They lived apart from the humans, until the human mages attacked them. Something went wrong in the fight, and it affected both sides... The darkmatter became what you call true shadows, and some were taken by mages who tried to turn them into something they could use, and ended up merging their own souls with them, somehow. So that thing you have downstairs, that wraith, is a mixed-up bunch of darkmatter and human souls. Mostly human. Not what we thought we'd find.

"_{seal breaking... primordial magic, crafting requiring no anvil...}" *she gets up and starts looking through various charts and statistics, trying to connect the dots she has been provided with* *after about a minute of searching, she says,* "it. unbelievable... the. it... the data is matching up? frequency of wraith sightings correlates with the number of MIA's on mages headed down south... it... this is. oh my... where has our path lead..." *she seems shocked* "we. we're all no better than the necromage!"
[=@=] ... [~@~] *they don't know who the necromage is, but they don't like it* [==@] so,areyougoingtobedoinganythingtous?
"I. don't think so?"